DPWH Paragas settles on some infras, prays TRO on “pork” lifted

LINGAYEN – The new chief of the 2^nd district engineering office of the Department of Public Works & Highway have to implement some infrastructure projects including those left by his predecessor this year and wait for those that are withheld because of the temporary restraining order (TRO) on the “pork barrel” of members of congress.

District Engineer Paragas

District Engineer Elpidio “Pidyong” Paragas said that construction of two bridges in Dagupan City, the San Jose Bridge in Brgy. Baay here, and a bridge in Bugallon town have been ongoing if not to be started on December this year.

“Sa ngayon marami rin tayo ginagawa na mga projects na naiwan. Hindi pa natatapos for this year,”he said on a TV interview recently.

Paragas said his office oversees the constructions of the thickness and density of concrete highways, asphalt overlay under the preservation maintenance of the DPWH, the lateral drainage, and others.

He said some of the projects that should be implemented this year are withheld by the TRO.

“We are waiting of the lifting of the TRO very soon. That is the time we can expedite the (construction of the) projects”.

The restraining order was filed  recently at the Supreme Court by senatorial candidates Samson Alcantara and Greco Belgica and Pedro Nepomoceno versus President Benigno Aquino III, Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa, Senate President Franklin Drilon and House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte at the High Tribunal assailing the constitutionality of the PDAF,

In a reference material given by Paragas in this paper it said there that what used to be the P40 million priority development assistance fund (PDAF) or pork barrel that fund the “hard” part or the infrastructures of the PDAF of each of the congressmen has been decreased to P24.5 million as what House of Representatives Speaker Sonny Belmonte and the DPWH have agreed.

“Starting 2014, the following guidelines in congressmen’s infrastructure projects will be observed that each solon may proposed between 3 and 5 projects, subject to DPWH’s approval; The total amount of a solon’s approved projects should not exceed p24.5 million; Each project should be worth at least P2 million; Projects will go through public bidding; and Projects should be completed within the budget year, “the material said. 

Savvy BIR chief assigned in Pang’nan

URDANETA CITY – The new chief of Revenue District Office-6 (RDO-6) of the Bureau of Internal Revenue that oversees Eastern Pangasinan has been a top performer in his previous posts in Mindanao before he was plucked here.

 Attorney Nasrollah Conding
New BIR Chief Eastern Pangasina

Lawyer Nasrollah Conding said he made revenue- turned- around in Pagadian City for three years after a decade of lethargic performances of his predecessors there.

“Iyang RDO-92 district na ito sa Pagadian City consistent in terms of collection and top performer tayo for the past three years. That was the time na for the past ten years hindi na nakaka-attain ng goal ang Pagadian City. Pero noong umupo po ako doon we registered for a better record in terms of collection,” stressed by Conding, 45, in his office that is based here.

He said his stint as RDO-chief not only reinvigorate the tax collection in Pagadian but that of Ipil,  Zamboanga Sibugay Province that used to reel in poor tax collection for sometimes.

He said his thrusts in RDO-6 Pangasinan is to increase the registration of business establishments like tiangge, vendors, and others.

RDO-6 has been given a goal of P1.24 billion but since Conding’s predecessor failed to reach the target because big multi-million pesos government infrastructure projects like the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Express Way (TPLEX) have been nearing completion.

Although Conding has just acquired his post here in the second week of September this year, RDO-6 has already collected P777 million and his office needs to collect P400 million plus to hit the tax goal of P1.24 billion.

He said his mettle could be tested next year since he just arrived in his new post barely four months before the end of the year.

“Anyway, siguro ang start natin next year na. We are positive next year we will be hitting (our goal),” he explained.

Conding said that before he became an RDO chief of Sibugay and Pagadian City, he was the legal officer of the BIR in Cagayan de Oro before he was transferred to Zamboanga City.

NOTE: THIS BLOG COMMISERATE WIT Assistant RDO-6 Bernadette Mangaoang and her loved ones for the passing away of Assistant RDO Mangaoang's husband. Our deep condolences, maam)

Unabated Looting in Leyte after Super Typhoon exited

The streets of Tacloban City in Leyte were in chaos Saturday as several residents began looting grocery stores and breaking into shops for food and other basic items they needed to survive in the aftermath of typhoon Yolanda.

Video footage recorded by the team of GMA News correspondent Jiggy Manicad showed several men breaking into what appeared to be the storage area of a grocery store in the city and grabbing as much bread and softdrinks bottles as they can get.

Manicad said some residents have even resorted to forcibly entering fast food shops and destroying ATMs to get food and cash.

Looting in Tacloban City has been attributed to low police and military presence in the area after the typhoon, Manicad said. 

"Sa lawak ng pinsalang idinulot nitong bagyo, masyadong manipis yung pagpapakalat ng awtoridad para i-handle yung sitwasyon kaya't ganito na ang nangyayari [dito], kanya-kanyang diskarte na, partikular na dito sa lungsod ng Tacloban," he said.

Manicad said the lone policeman he saw in the area where looting was taking place was powerless to stop the residents because he was outnumbered and people were already desperate for food and other necessities.

Tacloban, a city of more than 200,000 people, is among the areas most severely hit by typhoon "Yolanda" when it hit the Visayas early Friday morning.

In an earlier report, Manicad said he saw at least 30 dead people in the city and in Palo town after the storm. 

Video footage taken by a resident showed corrugated iron sheets being ripped off roofs and floating with the wind before crashing into buildings.

An unidentified man who admitted looting supplies from a grocery store said he and other residents were just forced to steal because they want to survive.

"Sabi sa grocery, okay lang daw na kunin namin yung pagkain nila, pero wag lang yung mga dried goods (clothes). Mahirap po [ang sitwasyon namin]. Namatayan na nga kami eh. Kailangan naming isalba ang buhay namin. Wala naman nang silbi ang pera ngayon," the man said.

In response to reports of looting in the city, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said on Twitter it is working with the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Philippine National Police to restore order.

It said that amid "unverified reports of anarchy/looting in Tacloban. We assure you that we are doing our part in helping @DILG & @pnppio restore order." 

"(It is) imperative that command and control be firmly placed in islands of Leyte, Cebu, and Panay to allow @DILG & @pnppio to reestablish order," AFP said. — Xianne Arcangel/JDS, GMA News

BATAOIL FOR GOVERNOR ?

BY MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

Broadcasters Ruel Camba and Jerry Cambay (who are long been suspected to be half-brother because they are dead ringer who have almost similar surnames too) asked me to join them last Thursday at DWPR as they interviewed Congressman Leopoldo Bataoil (2^nd District, Pangasinan).

Rep. Leopoldo Bataoil (2nd District, Pangasinan) strike a
pose with broadcasters Gerry Cambay and Ruel Camba
when he guested recently at DWPR in Dagupan City.

I asked the solon the consequences in case the hated pork barrel would be totally excised from the congressmen and senators.

ME (Me was my Chinese name when I was a tot in China): Sir, alam naman natin na ang mga congressmen at senador ay ang nag i-identify sa mga projects through lump sum fund. With the brouhaha against the PDAF (priority development assistance fund or pork barrel) iyong pag bigay ng lump sum sa mga congressmen gagawin na na line items. Pag ganoon po, hindi ba delikado iyon kasi mga congressmen hindi na nila ipapasa ang mga bills na gusto ng Malacanang dahil tinangalan na sila ng power to identify projects of their whims? Pag ganoon po, baka to the extent impeach nila si Presidente (Benigno Aquino III). What's your take on my observations, congressman?

CONGRESSMAN BATAOIL: Ha, ha, ha advance talaga ang isip mo Mortz. Believe ako sa iyo. 

ME: Malikot lang ang isip ko sir.

 CONGRESSMAN: Itong kaibigan natin he thinks way way way ahead (chuckle).

Bataoil elaborated that all these hullabaloo and uproar on the pork are part of the things Filipinos as a nation has to go through.

“Good point, the people are deeply involved and have attested their desire for change,” he stressed.

He said he is one of those solons who attentively listen to the wishes of the Filipinos for change.

He explained that in the bill for the 2014 General Appropriation Act (GAA) that all allocations anchored to the “pork” or PDAF have been deleted.

He explained that it was even cited on a specific provision of the proposed GAA 2014.

“So what we have to do now? We’ll maximize our oversight functions. Oversight na responsibility namin? Monitor the implementation of these projects on the GAA. For that matter all other projects which will be implemented by implementing agencies iyan ay commitment ko as your congressman,” he stressed.

When asked if he would run as governor of the 44-town 4 -city humongous province in 2016:

 He said presently he is preoccupied and focus on his work at his congressional district to give the best he can for his constituents.

“If we are really meant (for the governorship) doors will be opened. (That post) is God’s greater destiny,” he said.

POLITICAL EQUATIONS: A political spectator said that in 2016 in case Bataoil throws his hat for the gubernatorial derby the political and governmental landscapes there would be the following: 

Either Rep. Kimi Cojuangco (5^th District, Pangasinan), Rep. Conrad Estrella (Abono Party), Vice Governor Ferdinand Calimlim, or "Provincial Liga ng Barangay President"  Amado "Pogi" Espino III join the gubernatorial fray. Exiting governor Amado T. Espino runs in the 4^th Congressional District by challenging the “hegemony” of the de Venecias in exciting congressional tussles since Ali fought Foreman, er, since former Dagupan City Mayor Benjie S. Lim challenged former Speaker Jose de Venecia in 2007. Espino versus either Gina or Jose de Venecia would dichotomize  the loyalty of the five mayors in the district. The spectator further said that in 2016 former Alaminos City mayor Hernani Braganza returns in the political firmament as cabinet secretary in lieu of Secretary Mar Roxas who would throw his hat for the presidency or settles as undersecretary, and 2^nd District Engineering Office Elpidio "Pidiong" Paragas of the Department of Public Works and Highway would be the regional director of the Department of Public Works & Highway while media men RJ Jimenez, Atong Remogat, Harold Barcelona,  and Ronel de Vera would no longer frequent Lingayen, Pangasinan but spend most of their media hours in San Fernando City, La Union brainstorming how to solve the problems of the world.

Have I miss somebody on these political equations in 2016? Post your message in the here-under box of my blog. 

 (You can read my selected thought-provoking columns athttp://mortzortigoza.blogspot.com. and articles at Pangasinan News Aro. You can send comments too at totomortz@yahoo.com)

Bataoil awaits outcome of public hearing on "Redistricting"

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

DAGUPAN CITY – A Pangasinan congressman awaits the conclusion of the public hearing being undertaken by the provincial board if Pangasinenses want additional congressional apportionment in addition to its present six congressional districts.

Rep. Leopoldo Bataoil (2nd District, Pangasinan) (extreme right)
 explains to the media his takes on the pork barrel issue, the police,
 and the additional congressional districts in Pangasinan.

Rep. Leopoldo Bataoil (2^nd District, Pangasinan) said he and fellow Pangasinan congressmen wait for the consultations being done by the Sanggunian Panlalawigan (provincial board).

“Ano ba ang gusto ng taong bayan? Gusto namin malaman. Sa amin iyong personal namin we would keep within our heart. But we will abide by the people’s will. So we have to wait for the result of the public consultation of the Sanggunian Bayan (town council) and Sanggunian Panlalawigan which will be endorsed later on by their congressman,” he stressed.

Bataoil has an answer when asked that it should be the congressmen and not the board members, as the latter duplicate the function of a congressman, who should lead the public consultation and file a bill in congress for the “redistricting” as mandated by the Constitution.

“Let’s clarify it. It is being undertaken by our provincial government and it was initiated at the Sanggunian Panlalawigan it was deliberated, public consultation, and they came up with various functions that are still under study and under scrutiny”.

He said after that he and fellow congressmen in Pangasinan will discuss the merits of the apportionment.

“We have to do it one step at a time. Meanwhile, let the undertaken be done by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan”.

In the hearing that ensued at the provincial board in July this year, the proposed new two districts would be taken on either of the following towns and cities:

San Carlos City, Bayambang, Basista, and Urbiztondo or Bautista, Alcala, Santo Tomas, Malasiqui, Rosales, and Villasis or Sison, Urdaneta City, Asingan, Binalonan, Laoac, and Pozorrubio or Balungao, San Manuel, San Nicolas, San Quintin, Santa Maria, Tayug, Natividad, or Umingan.

Pangasinan sends relief fund to Bohol quake victims.

Board Member Clemente Arboleda, Jr. (left) turns over P2-million worth of cheque to Bohol Gov. Edgar Chatto (2^nd from left) for victims of 7.2 magnitude earthquake that struck Bohol province on October 15. The donation was made possible through Provincial Resolution No. 184-2013 authored by BM Arboleda which authorized Gov. Amado T. Espino, Jr. to source the relief fund from the province’s calamity fund.  (PIO/Photo courtesy of BM Arboleda’s Office)

Pangasinan determined to further lower poverty

LINGAYEN- There's no time to be sluggish.

This was the idea as the provincial government through the Provincial Planning and Development Office (PPDO) spearheaded their fourth quarter meeting  to assess accomplishments and to make plans to further pull down the poverty incidence rate.

"Though we don't really have the tool to assess the poverty incidence, the National Statistics Coordination Board (NSCB) has the said data. And as can be taken from the latest data, we are on the right track," said PPDO Chief Benita Pizzaro during the said meeting held at the Capitol Resort on November 6, 2013.

The poverty incidence rate of the province has continuously been declining as Pizzaro recalled that for the year 2006, it was at 26.5%; 19.5% in 2009; and 17% in 2012.

She added that the province targets to further lower poverty incidence below 10% in the following year.

The said meeting was attended by concerned agencies, various departments of the provincial government, and different towns that form part of the Provincial Poverty Reduction Action Team (PPRAT).

"I think Pangasinan is the only province in the country that involves all local government units in the poverty reduction planning, so as to come up with an integrated effort as we understand each town has different needs," explained Pizzaro. (Arian Bermas)